29 June (Part 2) - A bunch of amateurs
The new election leaflets are now all on-line in the usual place. It can be tricky
to get a consistent format across the board but basically each party’s title
links to a sub-Index from which specific leaflets may be chosen - except where
there is only one, when the Index is bypassed. (I will be checking for consistency again later.)
There may not be a lot of point reading the Labour and Reform leaflets because
they do no more than trot out the national party line. Louie French (Conservative) has
made a valiant effort to be different and concentrate on local things and so to a lesser extent has
the tongue-twisting Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett for the Liberal Democrats. His
Social Media pages reveal that he very considerately asks you to refer to him as They.
Whilst nothing happens in Erith & Thamesmead electioneering goes on apace elsewhere.
A friend who has been involved with a Reform campaign tells me that it is an
absolute shambles because unlike the other parties they have no historical
database to fall back on. The big parties will be going around ensuring that
their core vote is ready to turn out and Reform hasn’t a clue who their core
vote is and door stepping is therefore not for them.
My own ‘door stepping’ is confined to listening to radio phone-ins and
reading newspaper comment columns. If they are an accurate guide Reform is going to walk it but it
is of course a self-selecting ‘birds of a feather’ audience.
We may be in for a Brexit style shock on Friday morning. In 2014
when Mick Barnbrook stood for election in
Blackfen and Lamorbey he knocked on every door but was narrowly beaten by UKIP
who admitted to knocking on none. A popular groundswell swept them to victory in that seat.
Reform are not only proving to be amateur campaigners they also don’t seem to
have any knowledge of electoral protocols. A contact within Bexley Council says
they are having to waste a lot of money tearing down Reform posters taped to Council infrastructure.
Obviously local authorities must be careful about appearing to endorse any
candidate by allowing them access to publicly owned infrastructure.